Financial Aid Benefits

In the society of the United States, students are expected to follow the typical path of day care, grade school, middle school, high school and hopefully college. Growing up in America today, the importance of education is stressed starting at the earliest stages of development. In a world with a competitive job market and with citizens who want to make the most money that they can, a college education is the key to success. For some students, financing college is not a problem. Money should not be a factor in the student’s decision-making process when choosing what school to attend, but unfortunately many people are unable to attend the university of their choice due to high tuition costs. Working through college is not always the best answer
The financial aid process works like this: students and their families are obligated the pay the “Expected Family Contribution” (EFC) of their education based on a families income and other financial assets percentage of their fees. After determining the families EFC, FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) breaks down what is left into loans, grants, and work-study. All loans must be paid back whereas grants do not. Work-study is money given to students by the government for working on campus. Even though most students do receive some form of federal financial aid in which two-thirds comes from the government, more than half comes in the form of loans that must be paid back by the student. During the 1990s, students attending four-year colleges had an average debt of $17,000 (Higher Education). Loans accounted for fifty-three percent of all financial aid in the 2001 academic year whereas grant money only accounted for forty percent (Higher
When students at a public university were interviewed about this, they said that coming from a middle class family with average income, it was very difficult to be able to afford college, and that they should be able to pay lower prices without sacrificing the quality of their education. They also felt that for the high price they were paying, they should be receiving more than what they were at their university (Meyerson 20). Many students who help pay their own tuition are forced to maintain jobs as well as keep up with their academic schedule. This can be very stressful for students, and often lead to poor academic performance. This can be very harmful because if students are forced to retake classes, then they will probably end up being forced to pay tuition for extra semesters. These students do not have any other choice because they must have a way to pay for their education. Some negative effects of having a job while in school may include “lack of sleep, insufficient time to focus on course work, decreasing personal or social time, and conflicts with extracurricular activities” (Collegeboard). Having a job can actually be very damaging to a student’s education. When a student is constantly fatigued from working all the time and trying to stay up late to study, they will not be able to give their best effort when it comes to learning. Even though a student might earn a passing